Sports Beat

Just because he's now the governor of the country's largest state doesn't mean Arnold Schwarzenegger has forgotten his roots. Last weekend he traveled to Columbus, Ohio, for the Arnold Classic, a bodybuilding competition and fitness exposition that attracted 11,000 competitors and 80,000 people--including Victor Conte, the embattled BALCO founder who had to ask permission from U.S. district court judge Susan Illston to attend. Conte didn't set up a booth. He paid $10 for a ticket and made the rounds, handing out samples of his zinc and magnesium supplement, ZMA. "Basically all he talked about was his ZMA product," says Chuck Rudolph, a patron who met with Conte. "He came to me and said, 'All the stuff you've been hearing, don't believe it.'" But there was no doubt who the biggest newsmaker at the competition was: Schwarzenegger, who announced he will take over as executive editor of both Flex and Muscle & Fitness magazines. "Whether it's sports, whether it's business or whether it's politics," the Governator told the cheering crowd, "I will always be involved in the sport of bodybuilding."

--Solange Knowles (above), 17-year-old little sister of Beyonce, married Daniel Smith, a wide receiver at Texas Southern. Smith and Solange--who released her debut CD, Solo Star, last year and who appears in the forthcoming Cedric the Entertainer flick, Johnson Family Vacation--tied the knot in the Bahamas earlier this month. Beyonce was on hand, as was Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland.

--The first transsexual to play in a pro golf tournament, Mianne Bagger (SI, Feb. 23, 2004), shot an 84 and a 74 to finish 14 over par and miss the cut at the Women's Australian Open. Bagger, 37, who began golfing when she was eight and underwent a sex change operation in 1995, was outdriven by 100 yards by a few of the other players. "I was pretty numb the first seven holes," she said after finishing her first round. "I couldn't really feel much below my shoulders."

--Washington might have had a little divine intervention last Saturday in its win over Stanford. Jim Caviezel, who stars as you-know-who in The Passion of the Christ, is a basketball fanatic from Conway who attended Washington for a year before dropping out to pursue his acting career. His younger brother, Tim, was a reserve guard for the Huskies in the early '90s. And Jim played ball at Bellevue Community College, where his specialty was mimicking his coach's halftime talks--which led to a suggestion that he give acting a shot. Caviezel's next role is golfer Bobby Jones in Stroke of Genius, which opens April 30.... We would've liked to have been in the room when Devil Rays outfield prospect Joey Gathright, 21, negotiated his deal with the club. Gathright, a speedy outfielder who had 69 steals in the minors last year, promised that he would forgo one of his favorite pastimes--leaping over cars in a single bound, front to back. "It's in my contract," he says. "I'm not allowed to jump over cars anymore. Can't jump fences, either."

COLOR PHOTO: ANDREA RENAULT/GLOBE PHOTOS (KNOWLES) Beyonce's baby sisCOLOR PHOTO: THOMAS KIENZLE/AP (DEVERS) PICTURE THIS Talk about your polished professionals: Gail Devers dug in before her heat in the 60 meters last Friday at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest. Devers won gold in the event in 7.08 seconds. Two days later the 37-year-old runner came up just short of an unprecedented double, finishing a close second in the nail-biting finals of the 60-meter hurdles.COLOR PHOTO: RON TURENNE/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES (GLOVER)

THIS WEEK'S SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSEPete Rose will be inducted into the World WrestlingEntertainment Hall of Fame.

THEY SAID IT DION GLOVERRaptors guard, after being surrounded by 10 reporters covering his first practice with the team after he was waived by the Hawks: "This is like our crowds in Atlanta."